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Rahul Goswami

In 2010, the links between the financial markets and agricultural trade flows have become both stronger and more visible. This has happened through (a) the growth of agricultural commodity markets, and (b) the expansion in size and reach of powerful transnational and national food conglomerates, which are investing heavily in deep forward and backward integration of the crop, food trade, storage, processing and retail businesses. These are the conditions that India faces, and which provide the background to steady inflation in our staple food baskets.

As western auto markets shrink due to environmental concerns coupled with financial tightening and long-term worries about fuel supply, India has witnessed a decade-long steep sales growth rates in all categories of vehicles. The promise of a rapidly growing automobile market has brought every global auto manufacturer of significance to India. The result has been a pattern of consumption of the means to mobility which discourages discussion of its impacts, just as surely as it subdues debate about alternatives. Moreover, the State is powerfully rearranging the landscape with a hugely expensive programme to build a nationwide expressway network that will encourage individual consumption of mobility at the cost of public alternatives.

The state government in Goa reacts to popular anger by scrapping special economic zones. This could signal a renewal, but only if the administration and the citizens' groups link continuing human development deficiencies with the new problem areas.